


Falling like a Burning Stone

by MagiKatFish



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, M/M, Slow Burn, also an exploration of the Galra!Keith theory, are you ready for gays surviving together in space, because that is basically what this is, mostly canon compliant I think?, picks up after the end of episode 11
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-29
Updated: 2016-07-15
Packaged: 2018-07-19 00:09:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7336762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagiKatFish/pseuds/MagiKatFish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Keith retrieved his helmet, bayard, and rations from his lion before climbing out and setting his gaze on the horizon that beckoned to him. The orange-tinted haze of the sky shrouded the faint light that shone from above, dusting the ground a tawny blur. It was more than a long shot, but Keith still gripped at his chest and mumbled to the empty air: 'I’m coming.'"</p><p>After crash landing on an unknown planet when the wormhole destabilized, Keith now needs to figure out how to survive and get in contact with the rest of team Voltron. Fortunately (or not), he may not be alone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this was supposed to be a simple one-shot idea to help me work through some really nasty writers block but the more I started to think about it and work on it I realized... this is anything but a one-shot... whoops. So hello and welcome to this new multi-chapter fic I'll be working on! It'll basically be about Keith and Lance figuring things out together after the end of season 1, including but not limited to Keith being (at least partially) Galra and them being massively gay for each other. Hope you enjoy! ^^

_“Coran, what’s happening!?”_

_“The integrity of the wormhole has been compromised! It’s breaking down!”_

_“What does that mean!?”_

_"It means we have no control over where we’re headed!”_

Keith felt like he had been thrown around by a tornado—a very angry, spiteful tornado. He groaned from his position splayed across the cold metal floor of his lion and tried to push himself up—not good. His head swirled and he squeezed his eyes shut in an attempt to fight off the overwhelming dizziness. He thought he might be sick. In the end he opted to lay back down and stare blankly at the ceiling until everything stopped spinning around him. His chest ached and it hurt to breathe.

What had happened? Somehow they had managed to escape from Zarkon. Whatever barrier that had been surrounding the ship had fallen and they managed to jump through a wormhole, but it had destabilized and the next thing Keith knew, he was thrown from the ship and falling through space. That must have been how he had received his injuries… But then, where was he now? And what happened to everyone else?

Despite the painful ache in his chest and his less than steady limbs, Keith finally pushed himself up to look around at the state of the cabin. His arms and legs shook with the effort, and he paused to clutch at his side as he let out a rattling cough, but he still managed to fumble his way to the control panel. All of the lights were off. The usual familiar hum of the lion’s energy was absent, leaving the cabin eerily quiet. Experimentally, Keith pressed a button on the panel to activate the comms system.

“Coran? Allura? Are you there?” Keith called out hoarsely into the silence. Nothing. Not even static. Keith pushed the button again, harder. “Shiro? Anyone? Hello?” Silence.

Keith’s hands curled into fists and he turned away from the control panel a little too quickly. He staggered to keep his flimsy balance before he spotted his paladin helmet lying on the floor a short distance away. Almost desperately, he picked it up and saw that there was a large crack running from the temple to the back. With a strangled cry of frustration, he tossed it to the side. Useless.

What was he supposed to do now? Without a means of communication, Keith was left in the dark over the fates of the rest of team Voltron. More immediately, he was alone and injured on an unknown planet, and his connection with Red was faint at best. Something was seriously wrong with his lion, so leaving whatever planet he was on was a distinct impossibility. He wasn’t sure how long it would be before he could get in contact with the others—not like they had the time to spare anyways, with Zarkon and the Galra Empire looming over their heads. Keith’s blood ran cold at the mere thought.

Something about his fight with Zarkon had left Keith extremely unsettled. However, when Keith thought about it, it wasn’t Zarkon’s power that worried him. It was what Zarkon had said that made Keith nervous. _You fight like a Galra soldier…_ Zarkon had practically smirked at him when he said it, like he knew something that Keith did not. A small part of him didn’t even _want_ to know, because he was afraid of what that would mean. Keith stared down at his hands, at the fawny skin stretched over his fingers, and frowned. It looked like it always had, before his fight with the druid. But now he wondered… was it really his?

The smell of burning metal put a halt to his wandering thoughts. Quickly, Keith rushed out from the cockpit of his lion and out onto the barren surface of the unfamiliar planet he had crashed on. He could see faint tendrils of steam coiling up from the dented hull of Red. Even just standing near the hull Keith could feel the heat radiating from it in incessant waves. They must have fallen all the way through the atmosphere. With Red’s systems offline and a hull hot enough to cook on, Keith figured he would have to find a different place to take shelter, at least until Red cooled off and he could set to work figuring out how he was supposed to repair everything.

The barren wasteland that was the planet’s visible surface did not offer much in the way of shelter. At least, not anywhere nearby. Red had a few rations on board—snacks, curtesy of Hunk when he had worried about getting hungry whilst away on a mission—so Keith had some time to figure things out before his situation became dire, but eventually he would have to find food and water as well. That is, if the planet even _had_ any of that. It looked pretty empty from Keith’s perspective. At least the air wasn’t poisonous.

Keith took a deep breath. He told himself it would be all right—he had survived on his own before, after all. He could take care of himself, though what he figured were bruised ribs and a mild concussion would certainly provide an extra challenge. However, his first priority was to escape the barren wasteland he had landed in. With any luck, it was simply a small desert and he would be out of it soon enough.

Easier said than done. When Keith looked around to try and figure out which way to go, nothing he saw gave him even the slightest indication of what lay beyond the horizon. If he chose incorrectly, he could walk for days and never reach the end, having walked exactly the opposite of where he was meant to go. Still, when he gazed past the heap of Red laying on the ground, something in his chest stirred. He would have easily mistook it for his own nerves, except something about it was off. It felt almost foreign, like a pair of calloused hands that were not his own were gripping at his heart and squeezing. It was hardly a firm grip. It was more of an announcement than anything else— _I’m here,_ _I’ve got you and I’m not letting go_ —that’s what Keith felt like it was saying. Anyone else would have ignored it, chalked it up to his concussion-addled brain, but Keith felt compelled to listen to it. Feelings like this had led him down the right path before, like when he had found Lance’s lion. Besides, what else did he have to go on?

Keith retrieved his helmet, bayard, and rations from his lion before climbing out and setting his gaze on the horizon that beckoned to him. The orange-tinted haze of the sky shrouded the faint light that shone from above, dusting the ground a tawny blur. It was more than a long shot, but Keith still gripped at his chest and mumbled to the empty air: “I’m coming.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith's journey across the wasteland goes about as well as one would expect.

Travelling across the wasteland proved more difficult than Keith had anticipated. His chest ached with each step he took, and he found himself short of breath more often than not. He felt like he could never get enough air, like he was slowly suffocating and it _hurt_ to try and fill his lungs, but he knew he had to. Keith had no idea what time of day it was on this strange planet, or what the temperature would be like in a few hours’ time, but even the hazy orange glow was starting to feel too warm for comfort and he knew he would need to find shelter soon. However, no matter which direction he looked, he only saw the empty wasteland around him.

Had trusting his feelings been the wrong choice? Even as he continued to walk, he wondered if maybe the squeezing sensation around his heart had been nothing more than his bruised ribs aching in pain. Maybe he really had been imagining it. When he closed his eyes and tried to reconnect to the sensation, all he could feel were his protesting lungs. Should he turn around and return to Red? Try to come up with a different plan? Even as he thought about it, Keith realized that there was no way of knowing if he could find his way back to Red. There had been no notable landmarks to keep his bearings with, and even then he had been more preoccupied by the pain in his chest and his currently developing headache to pay much attention to the direction he was heading in. Though he hated to admit it, Keith had the sneaking suspicion that he had gotten himself hopelessly lost.

Keith wondered how the rest of team Voltron were doing. Allura and Coran were no doubt together on the castle, though he imagined it was seriously damaged. The Alteans would probably have to work for weeks to get it back into shape. Keith had no way of knowing what had befallen his fellow paladins—whether or not they were as alone as he was, if they were tumbling through space or stranded on an inhospitable planet—but he hoped that they were all right. They had only been Voltron’s paladins together for a short time, but it had been the first time since being kicked out of the Garrison that Keith had been around people, even more so people he considered friends. Being a Voltron paladin had given Keith a purpose, a place to belong… and now he was on his own again, about as useful as his broken helmet.

In a sudden fit of frustration, Keith lashed out and kicked at the ground with his foot. It came into contact with something solid and heavy, which sent the unknown object clattering across the dusty terrain. Keith paused to stare at the object in surprise—he hadn’t seen anything for miles. He stooped down to investigate it. The object appeared to be some kind of rock, grimy and coated in a thick layer of dirt. It was oddly trigonal in shape, and out of curiosity Keith reached to pick it up. The dirt stuck to his sweaty hands, but when he pulled his fingers away he noticed that the grimy rock was actually glowing. Underneath the thick layer of dirt, Keith realized that the dull rock was actually a glimmering blue crystal. Its surface twinkled faintly in the hazy light overhead, but the brilliant blue sheen was unmistakable.

Keith stared at the crystal in wonder. He remembered seeing crystals just like this one on the surface of the Balmera they had helped to liberate. If this was a Balmera, then surely there would be Balmerans as well. It might even be the same Balmera as before. Keith’s hopes soared at the thought. If he could find Shay and her family, he could ask them for help and get back in contact with the others. All he had to do was find Shay.

Keith pocketed the blue crystal and took another deep breath to try and fill his aching lungs. It was difficult to travel with his injuries, but he knew he had to keep going, especially now that there was a real destination at the end. When Keith thought about it, maybe the planet being a Balmera explained the mysterious feeling he had earlier. Maybe, somehow, the Balmera had been trying to help him? If that was the case, then Keith saw no reason to doubt it and turn back. If he strayed off course, the Balmera would guide him back. At least, that was how he hoped this would work.

A sudden warm breeze tickled the back of Keith’s neck and the dust around his feet shifted. He figured that was his cue to keep going. With any luck, he would only have to travel a couple miles further. The wind picked up again and this time Keith sneezed; the dust was heavy in the air now, irritating his eyes and making it hard to see. Warily, Keith picked up his pace, but the wind pushed impatiently at his back, now pelting stinging projectiles of grit at his exposed skin. He had to squint in order to see as the gale whipped dust into the air and pushed him about with increasing force. He realized then that if he did not find shelter soon, he would be trapped in the impending sandstorm. Did Balmera even _have_ sandstorms?

Hastily, Keith pulled down the sleeve of his jacket and cupped it over his nose and mouth. He desperately scanned the barren landscape for a cliff face, an outcropping of rocks, anything really that he could use to hide from the onslaught that was swiftly bearing down on him and leaving his exposed skin an angry, stinging red. Through the blur of his nearly closed eyes he spotted something only a short distance away—a blowout whose sunken walls could offer at least minimal protection from the elements. Keith fought his way towards it, though the wind tried valiantly to push him off course. In a last fit of desperation, Keith flung himself forward, expecting to hit the ground a second later. Except he didn’t.

Keith could feel himself falling before he opened his eyes and saw that what he had thought was just a small depression in the landscape was in actuality a steep pit whose jagged sides he was now painfully tumbling down. The jarring impact of his shoulder hitting the slope left him breathless from the sudden pain that shot through his chest, and in a desperate attempt to slow himself down he reached out with his hands and feet to try and catch himself on anything that would impede his fall. The sharp sides of the slope cut into his hands and scraped at his paladin armor, but it did little to slow him down as he rapidly approached the bottom of the pit and fell ungracefully on his face. He lay there dazed and breathless until his senses returned and he could get his body back under control—his arms and legs had been visibly shaking from the sudden rush of adrenaline in his system.

When he finally calmed down enough to push himself up and get back on his feet, his left hand practically crumpled underneath his weight and a sharp pain raced its way up his arm. He must have sprang it somehow in the fall when he was trying to slow down. Another injury to add to the list. He pressed a hand gingerly against his ribs and hissed; he wouldn’t be surprised if he had actually fractured one now, and his head was killing him. Carefully, he laid back down and stared up at the top of the pit, the sky now masked entirely by a thick, raging cloud of dust—at least he had gotten out of the sandstorm.

Taking his gaze away from the top of the pit, Keith looked to his side and noticed that beside him, a short distance away, sat the entrance to a cave. Just past the entrance he could see the faint blue glow of more crystals. Almost deliriously, Keith closed his eyes and tried to ask the Balmera if this was the right way to go—no answer was good, right? Logically, the Balmerans lived underground, so an underground cave had to be a reasonable place to look for them. Either way, it was unlikely that the sandstorm would be ending any time soon, and he could hardly climb out of the pit anyways, so what did he have to lose?

When he tried to stand up again, his aching injuries wailed in protest. Groaning, Keith laid back down and stared up at the blocked out sky. Maybe just five more minutes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so glad people seem to have some interest in this fic! ^^ Hope you enjoy this second chapter, and I promise that Keith won't be on his own for much longer!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The underground is full of unexpected sights, none of which Keith is prepared for.

An hour and five minutes later, after a brief, restless nap and a portion of Hunk’s space rations, the sharp pain of Keith’s injuries had faded to a dull throbbing and he finally managed to push himself to his feet. The dark, gaping entrance of the cave tunnel did not look particularly welcoming, but Keith’s mouth was uncomfortably dry and he would prefer to find the Balmerans sooner rather than later.

The tunnel was significantly cooler than the planet’s surface. It led steadily downwards, rapidly dissipating any light that could sneak in through the entrance. Keith proceeded cautiously, reaching out with one hand to avoid running into any rocks or abrupt walls. He dragged his feet carefully across the floor—tripping was the last thing he wanted to do at this point. The tunnel, however, remained eerily consistent in its lack of imperfections, and continued relentlessly into the depths of the planet. Keith followed it doggedly, even when the darkness pressed against his eyes and a faint chill settled in his bones. His heart fluttered anxiously in his chest, but Keith was not afraid. This was the right way. He was sure about it.

Eventually, the slope of the tunnel began to even out until it was nearly flat. Maybe it was just Keith’s imagination, but he was sure that the tunnel had grown much larger as well. His breathing felt less confined and the echoes of his footsteps sounded further away. More peculiar perhaps were the faint colors that seemed to glow in the far distance. At first, it had looked so odd against the absolute darkness of the tunnel that Keith had been thoroughly convinced that his eyes were playing tricks on him, but the more he stared, the more he began to suspect that it was real.

The colors danced against the dark walls, washing them in kaleidoscopic blends of vibrant blues, reds, and greens. They gleamed like a beacon, cutting through the shadows to illuminate the stony grey path before him. Keith would have found it beautiful had he been less wary of what exactly the source of these glowing colors could be. He approached with caution, one hand resting on his bayard just in case. Straight ahead, the tunnel made a sharp turn, and it seemed the colors were radiating from within the unseen space around the corner. His bayard transformed into his sword as he braced himself and rounded the corner.

His jaw slackened at the sight.

The tunnel had opened up into a cavernous space that towered so high even the glowing lights could not illuminate it. And speaking of the glowing lights, there were a lot. Embedded into the walls and all along the grand stalagmites that reached upwards into the darkness were thousands of clustered crystals all glowing various colors. Numbly, Keith reached into his pockets and pulled out the blue crystal he had found earlier, holding it in his hand as he compared it to the towering blue crystalline structures that glowed more fiercely than the clearest of blue skies. Everywhere Keith looked, his vision was colored by the light emanating from all around the cavern—brilliant, blood reds; deep, leafy greens; vibrant, flaming oranges.  For one long, breathless moment, Keith forgot about everything else. He forgot about his desperate situation, about his doubts and fears, he even forgot about Voltron and the Galra. For a moment, there was only color.

A sudden scrabbling noise startled Keith back to reality and he quickly snapped his head in the direction of the noise. Through a small crack in the cavern's nearest wall, a group of lithe shadows emerged into the chamber. The glowing crystals illuminated the figures: narrow, lean bodies with stomachs pressed close to the ground; sharp, clawed feet; thin, elongated heads that supported wide, flat noses at the end and large, triangular ears on top. Keith was startled to find that they had no eyes. Somewhat alarmed, he watched as the bizarre creatures scurried across the cavern floor, claws scraping against the rocks, large noses twitching and ears pointed straight up, alert for the slightest of sounds.

Keith remained still as he continued to watch them, unsure if they were aggressive or not, but so far they seemed to be ignoring him. They hurried over to a deposit of blue crystals growing out of the ground and began to scratch at the base with their sharp claws. The crystals cracked under the assault and tumbled to the floor, where the creatures gathered up the fragments in their mouths and scurried away, back through the crack they had emerged from. Keith stared after them, his eyebrows furrowed in a mixture of curiosity and confusion. What did those things want with some glowing crystals?

If nothing else, Keith found that it was at least somewhat comforting to encounter another living creature on the otherwise seemingly barren planet. Granted, the strange cave creatures were by no means the Balmerans he would have preferred to run into, and he was still unfathomably lost, but nevertheless life was life and it rekindled his hope that it was indeed possible to survive in this place. All he had to do was keep going.

Keith looked around the cavern and noted that there were several tunnels that branched off from the main chamber. None of the routes looked particularly promising—each one was littered with crystals and snaked off in a random direction. Keith contemplated just picking one at random and following it as far as he could, because standing around certainly wouldn’t do him any good either.

There was one tunnel in particular which had a couple small yellow crystals glowing inside it that appealed to him, but just as he was about to approach it, a strange sensation settled over him. It almost felt like his blood was _humming_ , which was extremely disconcerting to think about. Keith glanced suspiciously at the crystals around him, wondering if the faint whistling in his ears was just his imagination or another symptom of whatever had overcome him. No, that was definitely whistling, and it was coming from the tunnel immediately to his left. Keith narrowed his eyes suspiciously and raised his sword again. He knew of very few creatures that could whistle. Especially ones that could do it to the tune of music.

Keith crept up to the side of the tunnel where the sounds were coming from. He pressed against the wall and held his breath, listening as the whistling got louder. With it, he could recognize the distinct pattern of footsteps. Keith did not have time to think about what a humanoid alien could be doing in the dark underground of an otherwise barren planet. A shadowy figure appeared in the entrance to the tunnel and their whistling stopped abruptly. Keith gripped his sword tightly and prepared to take the alien by surprise—there was no telling if they were friendly or not, after all, and Keith was not fond of the idea of engaging them without the upper hand. Every muscle in Keith’s body tensed, ready to spring forward at a moment’s notice, but just as he raised his sword, the alien spoke.

“Woah! Check out this place!”

Keith’s whole body froze. He _knew_ that voice. There was absolutely no mistaking it. He could picture the smirking personage it belonged to as clear as if he had only seen him yesterday. The long, lanky limbs, the blue-marked armor, the infuriatingly goofy face…

“Lance?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the most dialogue I've written since the flashback at the very beginning of the story... xD As you can see, you can probably expect a lot more of it from now on! I'm really excited to get this chapter out, as it sets up a whole lot of what I plan to cover in this story. As usual, thank you so much and I hope you enjoy! ^^


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance is still as Lance as ever. So naturally, the two fight.

Lance spun around on his heels and let out a rather undignified, shrill scream. There was a long moment where neither of them spoke. Lance just stared unblinkingly at Keith, still poised to strike with his sword raised above his head, and Keith stared back. Keith opened his mouth to say something to his teammate and self-proclaimed rival, but nothing came to mind. What were you supposed to say in a situation like this anyways?

Lance finally blinked. Then his eyes widened almost comically and he pointed an accusatory finger at Keith. “Keith!? What the hell man, are you trying to kill me!?”

Keith glanced at his bayard. “No,” He answered, but he still lowered his arm only slowly.

“Then why does it look like you just tried to _attack_ me?” Lance fretted, his voice strained with alarm.

Keith furrowed his eyebrows and frowned. “I wasn’t going to attack you.”

“ _Dude_ ,” Lance gestured wildly at the sword resting in Keith’s lowered hand, words having failed to get his point across. Keith merely shrugged, causing Lance to cry out in frustration.

Keith took the lack of conversation as an opportunity to assess Lance’s condition. He looked disheveled and somewhat dirty, and his armor was scratched up, thin scores running down his back and breastplate, but otherwise Lance looked all right. His dark eyes still sparkled with the daft, incorrigible vivacity that Keith had come to recognize as something so inherently Lance that it was almost unanimous with the name. It drove Keith crazy, but it was there. Lance may have looked a little worse for wear, but at least he was all right.

“I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that you aren’t here to miraculously rescue me, are you?” Lance asked, the faint glimmer of hope painfully obvious in the raised tone of his voice. Keith shook his head and Lance visibly deflated. He kicked at the ground moodily and the echoes of the noise bounced around the cavern.

“Red and I crashed a few miles away,” Keith explained in a clipped voice. “All of her systems are offline.”

Lance ran a hand down his face and groaned. “Of course. Just great.”

What little patience Keith had left shattered at Lance’s words and the way he said them. Keith rounded on Lance with a scowl and snapped, “It’s not like I asked for this, you know!”

Lance’s eyes narrowed at Keith’s sudden outburst. The two of them glared at each other, and it was just Keith’s luck that Lance always seemed up for a fight when it came to his self-proclaimed rival. Lance shoved himself into Keith’s space, using his height to look down on Keith and piss him off even more. “It sure seemed like you were when you went to fight Zarkon by yourself,” Lance replied condescendingly, like he was talking to a foolish child.

“I was handling him just fine,” Keith bit back quickly. Not one to back down from a challenge, especially one from somebody like _Lance_ , Keith stepped forward too and glared straight up into Lance’s eyes like the height difference between them didn’t bother him at all. It did.

“Your lion sure wasn’t. I saw how beat up Red was, and that’s all on you, Mr. Ace Pilot,” Lance accused.

That really pissed Keith off. “At least I actually _can_ fly, Cargo Boy.”

“Oh that is _it_ , Mullet Head.”

Suddenly there were hands on Keith’s chest and they pushed. Hard. The sudden pressure sent a wave of pain through Keith’s injured ribs and he gasped as he fell to the ground. He could see the fury in Lance’s eyes as the blue paladin descended upon him, but when his back hit the ground, his vision blurred and he failed to hold back the scream of pain that tore out of his throat. It was hard to breathe and he struggled and gasped for air, but his lungs hurt to expand and the most he could do was try not to hyperventilate.

Keith closed his eyes and braced himself for Lance’s next hit, but it never came. Somewhat confused, Keith glanced up, only to notice that Lance was frozen in his position above him, one arm pulled back mid-punch. Lance was staring at him, eyes wide with shock.

“Dude, what was _that_?” Lance asked, earlier aggression seemingly forgotten.

Keith moved to sit up and Lance let him. Keith winced at the sudden strain on his wrist and replied sarcastically, “You shoved me to the ground, idiot. What did you think would happen?”

“Well, yeah, but it doesn’t hurt that much,” Lance said defensively. Then, with a sudden jolt of realization, he asked, “Wait, are you injured?”

It was Keith’s turn to react defensively. He shrugged noncommittally, “It’s nothing significant.”

“No way,” Lance shook his head firmly, “You can’t brooding-loner your way out of this one. Let me see.”

“What?” Keith asked incredulously.

“Your injuries. Let me see,” Lance demanded and held out his hands in a cough-it-up gesture.

Keith scowled but Lance was clearly unamused. He pointedly raised his eyebrows and continued to stare impatiently, arms crossed, until Keith finally conceded and began to remove his armor. He made a stubborn show of removing every piece, hoping Lance would get the message that he was _not happy_ with this at all. Lance, for his part, did not seem to care in the slightest. He watched silently and without expression until Keith was only is his shirt and pants. Then, Keith carefully lifted his shirt to reveal his injured ribs. Keith had yet to assess his injuries for himself, but Lance’s sudden sharp breath told him that however it looked, it probably wasn’t good. Nervously, Keith glanced down.

His chest was covered in a very dark, very angry purple bruise. He sucked in a tight breath and watched as his torso flinched from the pain. Somehow, seeing the injury made it feel a whole lot worse. Suddenly, Lance was next to him, and one of his hands brushed against Keith’s bruised skin. Keith recoiled at the sudden touch, though it hurt to move so quickly. Lance blinked.

“I think your ribs are bruised,” Lance commented somewhat flatly.

Keith laughed somewhat dryly, “No kidding. I sprained my wrist too, and I think I have a mild concussion as well.”

For good measure, Keith demonstrated his sprained wrist by trying somewhat unsuccessfully to flex it. He also pointed out the large crack in his helmet. Lance watched Keith carefully as he gingerly felt around his head for the injury and winced when he pressed against a particularly sore spot on the right side.

“What the hell Keith,” Lance muttered unhappily, “aren’t you supposed to be a _good_ pilot?”

Keith looked down at the ground. “Yeah, well, Red was pretty banged up.”

Keith and Lance sat there in tense silence as the echoes of their earlier fight rang in their heads. Keith hated to admit it, but Lance was right. He had been reckless going to fight Zarkon by himself, and Red had taken a lot of damage because of it. He wasn’t quite sure he regretted his decision, but he was certainly responsible for it.

“And you’ve been walking around like this?” Lance frowned.

“I didn’t really have a choice,” Keith replied testily.

Lance huffed. “You need to rest.” Keith rolled his eyes, but Lance interrupted him before he could retort. “This isn’t optional either.”

“Oh yeah?” Keith challenged dully.

Lance nodded firmly. There was a determined glint in his eyes and Keith knew it would be pointless to try and disagree. Resigned to his fate, Keith merely sighed and allowed Lance the victory. It was becoming rapidly apparent that Lance was going to be a real thorn in Keith’s side. Although, Keith mused somewhat sullenly, it was better than being alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Despite obsessively playing Pokemon GO, I managed not to put this off too terribly! I have A LOT of fun writing the "enemies" part of enemies to lovers... Just a warning :) Yay for dialogue though! So as usual, I hope you enjoy! ^^


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cooperating with Lance was going to be harder than Keith anticipated.

As it turned out, Lance really was set on making Keith rest. Every time Keith tried to stand up, Lance was there to push him down by the shoulders, until Keith had just given up altogether. At this point, Keith was thoroughly convinced that Lance was being more annoying than helpful. They were running on borrowed time as it was. Their supply of food was dwindling already, and without any water they would die within days. A combination of his concussion and dehydration had given Keith a particularly agonizing headache, and it was only going to get worse. There was no time to waste.

Keith really was tired though. Now that Lance had practically pinned Keith down to stop him from moving, Keith was having a hard time keeping his eyes open. His most recent nap felt like it had been days ago, and his last proper sleep even longer, but he hated the thought of resting when there were urgent things he had to do. Still, the dim lighting of the cavern did nothing to help keep him awake, and with Lance around to keep watch Keith almost dared to feel safe. He scoffed at the thought almost instantly, but that was the last thing he remembered thinking before everything went black.

Keith was a dreamless sleeper. When he did have a dream, most of it was long forgotten by the time he got out of bed. In fact, the most significant dream he remembered having in the past few years had been about him realizing he had put his shoes on the wrong feet. He figured that this dream was no different.

Several pairs of yellow eyes stared down at him as he lay prone on the floor. Instinct told him to curl up and hide, but for some reason he just lay there and stared back. Every so often the eyes would blink, but they never looked away. Neither did Keith. In fact, he was struck by an odd sense of familiarity, like he belonged under their gaze. It was comforting, he thought, to belong somewhere. He was not afraid of these eyes. However, the sudden sensation of something touching him was a different story.

Keith’s eyes snapped open and he immediately jerked backwards. Lance was hovering just above him, his hand reaching out to brush Keith’s shoulder, a strange look of consternation on his face. At Keith’s sudden reaction, Lance quickly withdrew his hand, opting instead to frown deeply at Keith.

“Finally!” Lance exclaimed, “You’re harder to wake up than Hunk!”

Keith merely glared up at Lance as he pushed himself up into a more comfortable sitting position. His headache had grown worse.

“Yeesh, not a morning person huh?” Lance grumbled.

Keith’s eyes widened as one of his hands shot out to grab Lance’s arm. “How long was I asleep?” Keith demanded almost wildly.

“I don’t know, a few hours maybe? I was just joking!” Lance practically squeaked out, surprised by Keith’s sudden behavior.

Keith growled in frustration, but he did release Lance’s arm. Lance cradled the appendage like it had been burned as Keith scrambled to his feet. “Why didn’t you wake me up sooner?” Keith snapped.

Lance pouted. “Definitely not a morning person,” He mumbled quietly, but Keith still heard him.

“Is this some sort of joke to you?” Keith shouted as he jammed a finger into Lance’s chest. “In case you haven’t noticed, we could _die_ here!”

“I know that!” Lance huffed defensively.

“Obviously you don’t!” Keith retorted. “You’ve been sitting on your ass this whole time!”

“I was not!” Lance cried indignantly. “I was… standing guard!”

“Or you could have just _woken me up_!”

Lance’s eyes narrowed dangerously and he crossed his arms in front of his chest. His voice was intentionally low as he accused, “Why do you always have to act like you’re right about everything? Can’t you just admit that you needed the rest?”

Keith balked. What did _that_ have to do with anything? “I don’t act like I’m right about everything! Why are you so obsessed with trying to prove me wrong?”

“Someone has to keep your ego in check,” Lance answered simply.

Keith threw up his hands in frustration. This was going nowhere, and if Lance was going to continue to try and upstage him at every turn, it never would. Keith found himself wishing desperately that someone like Shiro was with them. Shiro could get Lance to do what he said without question, and Keith actually got along with Shiro. Shiro was well-mannered and competent, while Lance was… _Lance_. The childish pout on the blue paladin’s face was all the proof Keith needed.

“Listen,” Keith sighed heavily. For the sake of Voltron—the sake of the universe—the two of them needed to cooperate. “It’s vitally important that we find water, _soon_ , and we can’t do that if we’re just sitting around.”

“I know that,” Lance replied petulantly, but he seemed to recognize a white flag when he saw one because his expression softened as he continued, “But it was obvious you hadn’t gotten any proper rest and you’re no good if you collapse on me.”

Keith grimaced. “I’ll be fine,” He assured, “There will be plenty of time to rest _after_ we find water.”

Lance opened his mouth as if he had more to say, but Keith stared at him pointedly, making it clear he was done with the subject. Eventually, Lance just sighed. “All right, you win. So what’s your genius plan to find water?”

Under Lance’s expectant gaze, Keith could not help but look away.

“You’re kidding right!?” Lance wailed, “Don’t tell me you have no idea? Seriously?”

“If I already knew where to find it I wouldn’t be saying it was so important to find, idiot!” Keith snapped, feeling defensive from all of Lance’s gawking.

Lance was at least prudent enough to avoid resuming their previous argument. Instead, he began pacing around the cavern in a circle, his features morphed into a look that Keith could only describe as pensive, with a tight frown and furrowed eyebrows. Keith watched Lance pace around as he himself tried to think of a potential way to find water, but nothing came to mind. There had to be something. After all, those strange creatures he had seen earlier had to mean this planet could support life somehow.

Suddenly, Lance froze in his pacing and snapped his fingers. He rounded on Keith and grabbed him by the shoulders as he shouted, “I got it!”

Keith carefully extracted himself from Lance’s grasp and prompted, “Care to share?”

Lance nodded enthusiastically. “Ice powers, bro!”

Dubiously, Keith quirked one eyebrow. Didn’t that require a _working_ lion to produce? And even if Lance could somehow get it to work, Keith wasn’t even sure that ice was safe to ingest. And what if it didn’t work? What then? Keith had several reservations about this plan, but decided to settle for voicing only one of his doubts. “Is your lion even working?”

Lance blinked and rubbed the back of his head somewhat sheepishly. “More or less?” Keith was not impressed by the reply, and Lance wilted. “Fine, so a lot of her systems are fried. But I’m sure we can manage to get the ice powers working! How hard can it be?”

Keith pointedly rolled his eyes at Lance’s borderline-foolish optimism and wondered, not for the first time, why he had to be stuck trying to survive on this barren planet with him.

Lance huffed unhappily and challenged, “Well do you have a better idea?”

Begrudgingly, Keith had to admit that he did not. Lance’s plan might have been foolhardy at best, but at least it was a plan, which was more than Keith had to show for himself. Lance smirked cockily at Keith’s silence, a gesture that Keith tried his best to ignore.

Instead, Keith impatiently asked, “So where’s your lion?”

Lance led the way to one of the tunnels that branched away from the main cavern. “It’s just up this way,” He answered, and then after a second of hesitation he tagged on: “I think.”

“You think?” Keith asked somewhat hysterically.

“Like, ninety percent sure,” Lance supplied unhelpfully. “Give or take.”

Keith groaned. Lance was going to be the death of him—literally.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One day these two will hold a conversation that doesn't include bickering. Alas, that day is not today. On a different note, sorry for my slower pace! It took a while for me to decide how I wanted to do this chapter, and I finally managed to settle on this direction. At any rate, please enjoy! ^^


End file.
